Sleeve #2, sheep, knitting contests, and a chicken bath

Mr. MmmYarn and I went to the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles last night. I was particularly interested in seeing the sheep and the home arts building. As I walked in the sheep barn, I realized I didn’t recognize a single breed. Not that I could have recognized them visually anyway, as all were sheared, but each stall bore a small placard listing the sheep’s name and breed. I came to the conclusion that since these were raised for food, meat breeds must be different than wool breeds. Years ago, when I first learned to spin and was still living in this area, I went to the fair and someone had a llama. She gave me a small bit of the fiber for spinning. No fiber at this year’s fair.

The home arts building housed entries in quilting, sewing, baking (most cookies and pies still looked pretty tasty, but having been on display for nearly 2 weeks some of them looked unappetizing, to say the least!), and, of course, knitting and crocheting. Some of the knitting was very well done with some original patterns, too. The first place winner in the baby clothes category was a well-knitted Feburary Baby Sweater (from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac). I was surprised that the first place winner in scarves was your basic 12-stitch garter stitch scarf on fat needles with fluffy yarn. I found some of the other scarves far more interesting and technically challenging than the winner. Perhaps the fact that the yarn was in patriotic red-white-blue helped its cause.

I also saw a chicken getting a beauty treatment as she was going to auction in the morning. First she got a soapy bath in dishwashing soap, then a dip in some rinse water, then a thorough blow-dry. She looked lovely when finished. It’s too bad her breed was “roaster” as this makes me certain of her destiny when the fair is over. All animals get cleaned up before going before the auctioneer: cattle get vacuumed so their fur really shines.

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1 comment

Whenever my Sheep to Shawl team competes at the Alameda County Fair we’re in the Home Arts building, surrounded by pies and other baked goods that have long-since seen their best days. A 2-week old meringue is indeed unpleasant looking!